Syracuse, N.Y. -- We're down to the final two weeks, folks. Practice on Monday marked the beginning of the final push toward Penn State, which is now only 12 days away.

The biggest takeaway from the portion of practice open to the media was the growing injury/absentee list for Syracuse. Josh Kirkland, Oliver Vigille, Kyle Knapp, Corey Winfield and Josh Mims were all in jerseys and shorts Monday, rotating on the stationary bike and through medicine ball work on the sidelines.

Tyler Marona, a freshman defensive end, remains absent from practice due to an upper-body injury, and Monday there were three more players not present. Most notably, kicker Ross Krautman, who head coach Scott Shafer said had a minor groin injury after last week's scrimmage at Fort Drum, was not at practice.

Joe Stanard and Franklin Santos, a pair of walk-ons, were also absent.

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As for practice itself, the portion open to the media continues to be predictable. Players warm up, go through light individual drills, stretch and then break off into units for specialized work on things such as blitzes or field goal block/protection.

On Monday, Syracuse worked again on its blitz packages against the first-team offensive line. The five expected starters -- Sean Hickey, Rob Trudo, Macky MacPherson, Nick Robinson and Ivan Foy -- took the majority of the reps, but Omari Palmer also rotated in at both of the guard positions.

With Knapp still on the sidelines due to an injury, it looks like Palmer has stepped up as the No. 6 offensive lineman.

By this point, it's become clear that Syracuse's first-team Okie package consists of Ri'Shard Anderson, Brandon Reddish, Durell Eskridge, Julian Whigham and Wayne Morgan. This is now the fourth or fifth time we have seen that group practice blitzes from various angles out on the field.

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Ryan Norton, who struggled in the scrimmage last week at Fort Drum, kicked very well on Monday in Krautman's place. He looked steady, solid and confident from between 40-50 yards, missing only one kick out of a half dozen or so.

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Drew Allen took reps with the first team in the hurry-up drill that Syracuse likes to practice. Earlier in camp, Terrel Hunt had been the player with the first-team offense during this drill.

In the drill, the quarterback leads the offense up and down the field without using a huddle. The emphasis is on pace of play and clear, concise verbal communication in order to preserve time. It's a chance for players to practice hand signals and non-verbal communication as well.